Show I r First Basemen Who Were Stars I By Hugh ugh S Fullerton Long time ago we were riding some ome somewhere where on a train one day which is definite definite nite enough for all purposes when Dahlen Fred Peffer and I fell Into a discussion as 35 to which Is the more im important important I positIon on the Infield second i base or shortstop Of course there Wl wa nothing to the argument as the im importance importance is equal in all things except covering second base and It depends on which man Is the better at getting the ball baU and touching runners If the short shortstop shortstop stop is better he covers the bag and his position becomes the more important important tant We were simply arguing to pass away the time and kept It up steadily until Anson butted in with the matter with first base be beIng being Ing the key to the infield UHl Hi saId Griffith nA A first base baseman baseman man ought to be made to pay to get into the ground Good First Basemen Are Scarce Griffith so fat far wrong for you youcan youcan can c on the fingers of one hand the first basemen who have really done things in their position and In many cases the first baseman is merely a stoughton bottle a sort of pensioner kept on the lIst because he can hit Once in a while there comes al along ng a first baseman who turns tricks who covers ground and makes combination plays around the field and whether he can hit or not he usually shInes for a time Comiskey was the first of th the really great first basemen He showed the possibilities of his position and it itIs itis Is one ot of the odd things of the game that almost every first baseman Corn Com Commy my has developed has played more baseball around the bag than their rivals Commy played an extremely deep field covered immense terrItorY cut off hundreds of right field hits and trained his pitchers to field Every pItcher he had covered first base on every play or was there ready to cover it and It really was he who showed pitchers that they could be valuable outside of heavIng lug Ing the ball toward the plate platen n It is another remarkable fact that al almost almost most every year he has been in charge ot of a team no matter in what league his pitchers have had far morE putouts Pu touts than those of any other team In the same t He trains them to work Tenney Showed New Things Fred Tenney showed the modern baseball world new things bout about coy cov covering ering first and playing combination ball with the rest of the infield He as astounded astounded the by the way he got the ball and made the plays to see sec second ond or especially on bunts toward first and his In fn this Un line started a fad for tor let handed first base basemen basemen men Donohue another Is the result of the teaching of Coms key He started as a catcher and nev never er was better than rate al although though a good hitter The first y yer r rho ho be c covered vered first base he was a frIght yet last coached by Comisky and making the plays like Tenney he was the wonder of the AmerIcan league Tucker Victim of Strange Play Poor old Tom om Tucker one of the best bestin bestin in his day and one of the best ws that ever followed the game was the victim of a strange play that lost a game for Washington luring during the old league days Bill Everett cracked out a hit and began that little bluff sprint off of first drawing the throw from the pitcher just to worry the young tWIrler Tucker seeing his game began bega to make strenuous strenuous efforts to block Bill off the bag and touch him out Tucker was tricky and unless the runner was wise he would find himself cut off entirely from the base Torn Tom was trying all his tricks with Everett who was ing off the base and dOdging back He even caught the ball and sat down suddenly but Bill got around him himOn himOn On the next try Bill started as if to steal but after running three feet with witha a tulle mile of motion he stopped and stepped back on to the base just as the pitcher threw Whatever possessed him to do It he never knew but he tickled Torn Tom under the ribs and Tom with a whoop forgot the ball and jumped three feet Into the air letting the ball go to the grand stand Other ball players layers who learned that Tom was ticklish tried it and again until the umpires stopped them |